When working at a pet shop, one is exposed to some odd animal illnesses. In addition to some of these interesting bugs that leave us employees feeling rather craptastic, we are also exposed to the children who come to gawk at said animals, children who come with their own bundle of fun infirmities, the latest of which I’ve had the extreme misfortune as to have contracted.
I’m not entirely sure what it is that I’ve got, but it’s definitely messing with my sinuses and my throat has most certainly seen and felt better days. My ability to speak comes and goes and swallowing anything, including much-needed fluids, is literally a pain. I won’t go into much more disgusting detail, but the coughing up of thick mucus has been involved (gotta love kids!), which I’m sure my husband has enjoyed both hearing as well as seeing. After suffering though a few hopeful days during which we expected the illness to pass, Hubby and I stopped in at a drugstore to pick up something that would numb the crap out of my poor throat.
After a good half-hour of perusing, I decided on Cepacol Sore Throat Pain Relief, an oral anesthetic, analgesic lozenge product. The package claimed that it worked “instantly!” and believe me, I wasn’t about to settle for anything else. I chose the Honey Lemon flavor as it seemed more appealing to me than the pseudo-cherry flavored lozenges that were sitting in the box beside it. The promise of 18 relieving, soothing, delicious, maximum numbing lozenges with immediate gratification was enough to get me to dish out the two dollars and change that the product cost. Aside from all of that, Cepacol is #1 in Hospitals, so the assumption that it would work seemed like a pretty safe bet to me.
Cepacol Sore Throat comes in a white and blue cardboard box. Within the box are two tamper evident blister packs. The product should not be used it the cardboard box is opened and/or the blister packs have been tampered with. The box itself includes things such as an image of one of the lozenges, the name of the product, an ingredient list, a list for uses, warnings, directions and other information.
Active ingredients are benzocaine (15.0 mg), which is an oral anesthetic, and menthol (2.5 gm) which is an oral analgesic. Inactive ingredients include isomalt, cetylpyrdinium chloride flavor, maltitol syrup, propylene glycol and more. Uses include the temporary relief of sore throat pain, sore mouth, minor mouth irritation and pain associated with canker sores.
Warnings include an allergy alert which states that this product should not be used by those who have a history of allergy to local anesthetics such as procaine, butacaine, benzocaine or any other “caine” anesthetics, the fact that this product should not be given to children under five years of age, and that in the case of an overdose, one should get medical help or else contact a Poison Control Center right away.
This product may be taken by adults and children five years of age or older. Cepacol Sore Throat should be popped out of the blister package and then should be allowed to dissolve slowly in the mouth, as needed, every two hours or as directed by a doctor or dentist. This product is NOT for children under five years of age and should be kept out of the reach of both children AND pets. Cepacol Sore Throat may be stored at room temperature (68-77 degrees Fahrenheit).
The lozenges themselves are round and similar to cough drops or hard sucking candies as far as texture and density are concerned, with a somewhat harsh, lemony smell. The taste is soothing, though the honey flavor is difficult to detect. The flavor is far more soothing than the smell of the lozenges, and, just as the package claims, Cepacol Sore Throat really does work immediately. The tip of my tongue is the first thing to lose any sort of feeling and this is quickly followed by the rest of my mouth, lips and the back of my throat. Even though I’d consider my throat to be “numb,” there’s still the sensation that something’s not quite right, like there’s some sort of irritant at the back of my throat that I should be acknowledging but I’m not. Even so, I do feel better for having this little yellow drop on my tongue.
After the lozenge had fully dissolved, my throat stayed numb for about forty-five minutes, leaving a decent chunk of time between when my throat regained feeling and when I could take another lozenge. Aside from the hour and fifteen minutes of discomfort that the package recommends that we as consumers suffer through before allowing ourselves further relief from our ailments, this is a great product and has been better at relieving my pain than other products have been. I’ll continue to use Cepacol Sore Throat because of its convenience and long-lasting effects. Compared to other cough drops or similar products, this does actually seem to remain effective at providing relief for a longer period of time.
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